


PEACHES.

by StoriesAndMagic



Category: Arashi (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fairy Tale, M/M, Nature
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-27
Updated: 2020-09-27
Packaged: 2021-03-07 19:09:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,641
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26682727
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StoriesAndMagic/pseuds/StoriesAndMagic
Summary: Another one of my little fairy tales.A lsot Sho arrives at a wonderful place where he meets a wonderful young man.
Relationships: Aiba Masaki/Sakurai Sho
Comments: 2
Kudos: 6





	PEACHES.

The storm had gotten stronger. It roared and struck while wanting to overflow rivers and drown the fields. Sho was running scared, darkness didn't allow him to see clearly. He was in some valley far away from the city that had been his home until then. He didn't know where he was heading to, but he knew that fleeing was the only solution left.  
He looked around. He had nowhere to hide: no tree under which to take refuge. He feared lightning would hit him. He was cold, he was soaked wet and a fever was starting to take over his body. Finally, he fainted over the green grass of the valley, raindrops beating him mercilessly.

He woke up inside a small house made of wood, on a comfortable and clean bed, in front of a fireplace. His head was hurting and he had chills down his spine, but he was feeling better. He got up carefully. He wasn't wearing his clothes but an old yukata like those in ancient illustrations. In the middle of the room, there was a fruit platter filled with fresh fruits. Sho stepped closer and grabbed an apple. He bit it, he had missed that acid and sweet flavour and how it crunched in his mouth. He savoured it while walking to one of the windows of the small house to look outside. Sun was shining in the sky above a village of small houses made of wood surrounded by fruit trees. He could see apples, peaches, lemons, plums, cherries, oranges. He still felt weak, but he wished to go out to check the trees, smell the perfume of the fruits and wash himself with rays of sun.  
A smiling young man entered the room at that moment, His brown hair cascaded in bangs over his forehead, he was wearing a black and white striped tee and yellow shorts. He looked like an Alice in Wonderland character.  
\- Welcome to Kudamonomura! - He said.  
\- I'm dreaming? - Sho replied. - I think all this is a product of my fever.  
The young man giggled.  
\- Oh you city folks! Always so incredulous, so pragmatic. This house is real, this village is real and I'm very much real.  
\- How do you know I'm from the city? - Sho sat on one of the cushions on the floor.  
\- Your clothes and the fact that you dared to face the storm.  
\- I didn't dare. I was simply running away and I stumbled upon it.  
The young villager frowned.  
\- From what were you running away?  
Sho ignored the question and asked:  
\- How did you find me?  
\- The storm ceased. Butterflies went out, they flew over the valley and saw you.  
Sho looked more like a little kid than a man when he pursed his lips and asked:  
\- Butterflies brought me here?  
The young villager giggled again.  
\- Of course not! Butterflies came to tell me where to find you. We picked you up, gave you herbs and applied ointments to heal you.  
Sho remained silent for a few seconds, then said:  
\- Thank you.  
He wasn't used to the kindness of strangers. The city was hard and selfish. That village felt warm and kindly.  
\- Can I stay here? - Sho finally inquired.  
\- Sure. - The other man said - But you'll have to help us with something.  
Sho nodded. It was a weird offer, but he decided not to worry.

They dressed Sho with colourful clothes as the ones of the inhabitants of Kudamonomura. That kind of people would have been mocked in the city, but Sho had been accepted and he was slowly knowing them all. Nino, the boy with long black braids who talked to animals. Aika-chan, the joyful girl who delighted everyone with her dancing. Nanase-san, the old sage who was a little grumpy. Jun-kun, the little inventor. Alisa, the zen master.  
Masaki, that was the name of the young villager who had rescued hin, had allowed him to stay with him in the small house and was teaching him a new way of life.

One clear night, Sho and Masaki were sitting by the peach trees watching the stars. Masaki giggled every time Sho named the constellations and orbs he knew.  
\- That's Venus and just above the line of the horizon, there's Mars.  
\- You're wrong. - Masaki replied - That's Sparkly and the one above the line of the horizon is Red. The one you call Jupiter is Big Ball of Chocolate and Saturn is Spinning-Top.  
Sho snorted:  
\- How do you call the Milky Way?  
\- Big Cloud. Because it is a big, gray, luminous cloud in the sky.  
The people of Kudamonomura were absurd but logical. They were also happy, something which Sho had never been. Until then.  
\- I was running from the misery of the city. - Sho suddenly told him. Masaki smiled knowingly and caressed his hand softly.  
\- My parents gave me everything: material things, a good education, a proper job. But they never gave me love. I couldn't stand more sadness and I left. I wish people understood and looked for other things in life.  
\- As master Alisa says: sometimes things don't happen, they are destined to be. You defeated your fear and went away. Storm came to you so you could arrive here.  
Masaki squeezed Sho's hand and kissed him on the forehead.  
\- Remember you still have to help us with something.  
Sho smiled. For the first time in his life, he felt loved and he loved back. His eyes filled with tears.  
\- You have such gorgeous eyes, don't allow sorrow to blur them.

All the villagers had gathered at the village square, by the fountain of cooling crystalline water. Masaki was appointed as the spokesman. With his striped tee, his bangs and his ripped jeans, he seemed more an arlequin than a representative of the community.  
\- The time of the year when we have to plant the seeds in order to recollect the delicious fruits with which to feed ourselves has arrived.  
He spoke theatrically and in a mocking tone, which made some of the villagers cackle. Sho grinned and couldn't help feeling his heart swelling with love.  
\- Fate has brought a new member to Kudamonomura. Sho is going to be the chosen one to plant these seeds. Trees have to grow strong in order to give us the best fruits so we never lack pies.  
The villagers' laughter resounded accross Kudamonomura. Masaki grabbed Sho by the arm, pulled him to his side and then continued with his peculiar speech.  
\- Here we have our Storyteller, him who with his stories will water the roots of the fruit trees, will colour the flowers and inject sap to the plants.  
Sho was petrified, all villagers' eyes were on him. interested, expectant.  
\- What? - He stuttered, looking at Masaki's eyes.  
\- Everything around you is alive thanks to the stories we tell. Now it's your turn. If we don't tell stories, we'll disappear.  
Sho paled up. He didn't know any story. The city was boring, it had no creativity. If there ever existed stories there, they had evaporated a long time ago.  
As if he was reading his thoughts, Masaki suggested:  
\- Create your own. Let yourself go. Storytellers are born not made.  
Masaki kissed him sweetly on the lips.  
One of the lady villagers raised her arm.  
\- I need beautiful and succulent berries for my jam.  
Sho looked at her, still nervous. Masaki stepped away. The young man gazed up at the blue sky for a while, filled his lungs with oxygen and started talking.  
\- Once upon a time there was a cloud that liked to play forms. She spent all her time transforming herself: from bird to lizzard, from monster to mountain, from a car to a horse. She was so distrated, she forgot how to rain when it was time. Due to this, the soil got dry and the vegetation was dying. One day, the cloud realised what she had done, she started to cry and it rained for days. Thus, the land became arable again. Kamisama took pity and offered to transform her into paint so painters with their brushes could make her into any form. She accepted. Then he became a landscape and the land didn't have to worry about the lack of rain no more.  
When he finished the tale, Sho watched the villagers a little frightened. They were all open mouthed, but, suddenly, they all started to applaud and cheer. Masaki giggled and giggled while jumping around him. Plenty of hands were raised from the crowd to speak.  
\- I want peaches! The fairiest and sweetest for my cakes. - A man shouted out.  
Sho smiled shyly, he glimpsed at the cat laying on Nino's feet and continued:  
\- Once upon a time there was a boy lost in a cold, lifeless world, a world of robots rather than human beings. According to the rules of that world, the boy had it all, but he felt lonely and empty. One day, winning over his fears, he decided to leave in search of a treasure. Something that would make him truly rich. He defeated a storm that wanted to destroy him and arrived to a wonderful place. He sat under a tree of long leaves and yellow fruits. It was a peach tree whose peaches granted a wish to those who ate them. The boy didn't ask anything more than to keep eating those delicious peaches. So it was that way that he kept living in that wonderful place for the rest of his life. 

The cheering was even louder this time. Masaki hugged him and then spoke to the villagers.  
\- Our Storyteller is even better than we imagined. Let's celebrate.

It was that way that the Storyteller Sho became the most important member of Kudamonomura. Admired, praised and loved by everyone. Especially by the one and only owner of his heart: the always smiling Masaki.

THE END.


End file.
